Warehouse fire disrupts lives, businesses in Los Angeles: 'No one is coming'
This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
As firefighters continue to battle a stubborn and complex fire at a massive refrigerated warehouse in Boyle Heights, residents and businesses owners have expressed frustration and health concerns as neighorhoods have been engulfed by smoke.Inside Jim’s Burgers, not far from the burning warehouse, restaurant owner Manuel Orozco and his workers wore face masks as they tried to keep busy in a mostly empty diner.“No one is coming and it’s because of the smoke,” he said Tuesday.
“It’s been a difficult time.” Orozco estimated that the nearby fire had caused sales to drop by 70% over the past week.He said at least two workers had been unable to come in due to health issues such as high-blood pressure and asthma.
The fire at the cold storage facility has been burning for over a week and has prompted declarations of a state of emergency by local and state officials.In a written statement, building tenant-operator Lineage, previously known as Lineage Logistics, said it believed the fire began while third-party contractors were testing the solar array on the roof.
Fire officials said they suspect the fire started on the roof.State regulators said Tuesday they had launched an investigation into the incident.Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore said that fighting the fire had been extremely challenging.
He said the 500,000-square-foot commercial building, which stores 85 million pounds of frozen food, is like a giant cooler.Inside, fire officials said, corrugated steel walls are filled with very dense foam that has been burning slowly and emitting gases despite ongoing water drops from helicopters.Firefighters have been unable to enter the building due to large portions of the roof collapsing and resting on steel racks, about 50 feet tall and 600 feet long, making it unsafe for fire crews, according to fire authorities.Firefighters have also been unable to do much fi...